UX and diversity
Anytime you’re doing UX research, you should be including gender and roles in that research. That includes gender-based and language-based roles in your user research. And bear in mind, “roles” are not always about 9-to-5 jobs, as any full-time parent will tell you.
For example, the Social Lens Research Voice Command Study offers valuable insight into how multilingual moms experience voice-driven conversational interactions. One conclusion is that “Multicultural moms are more likely to use voice commands across more devices, locations, and for more reasons.”
These US moms are the real power users of voice assistants when it comes to voice-first design thinking. Fascinating stuff; with device-neutral and flexible context of use across languages. And there is of course an important business message to be gleaned from this study: “Include Spanish/bilingual language options. Adapt to how your users actually talk and what words they use in both languages moms who are constantly online and own multiple devices are the current power users of voice.”
Gender Fender
Here’s another example: the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar — Leo Fender’s classic innovation through design.
I was fascinated by the notion that the comfort aspect of the design was influenced by the shape of the musician’s body. I presume, at the time, playing an electric guitar seemed like a “man’s job,” so the new guitar reflected male player body shapes.
And indeed, St. Vincent (singer Annie Clarke) has responded with her own electric guitar, especially designed for women. “Clark wanted to design a more practical guitar than the historic Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul,” LIFEGATE explains, quoting Clark as saying “I would need to travel with a chiropractor on tour in order to play those guitars.”
One size does not fit all
Remember that context of use research must be multi-dimensional — gender, roles, language, and more must be taken into account or you will miss key parts of your customer base. Think diversity.
You may have examples of other gender and language dimensions that need to be included in your global UX research. Please leave a comment if so!
